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The People Under the Stairs

The People Under the Stairs is an atmospheric and tightly coiled horror film with themes that remain relevant and a dark sense of unease that is still incredibly palpable, unravelling as a compendium of recurring themes and motifs that run throughout much of Wes Craven’s work; race, class, familial strife, generational conflict and the idea of man-made monsters all swirl together in an unhinged and feverishly claustrophobic tale.

With its myriad allusions to the likes of “Hansel and Gretel”, the film unfurls as a nightmarish urban fairytale complete with mutilated innocents imprisoned by wicked parental figures...

To read my full review, and for a chance to win a copy of the film on Blu-ray, head over to Exquisite Terror.

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Published just in time for readers to enjoy through the ever-darkening nights of October, SelfMadeHero’s latest offering is a second volume of graphic adaptations of the tales of MR James: a medievalist scholar and provost of King’s College, Cambridge, who is remembered today as the finest purveyor of ghost stories in the English language.

Adapted by Leah Moore and John Reppion, and featuring the illustrations of Meghan Hetrick, Abigail Larson, Al Davison and George Kambadais, the tales adapted for this volume include some of his best known work.

Of all the folk and fairy tales known to us, the tale of Little Red Riding
Hood is perhaps one of the most enduring and provocative. In its most basic
form it is a tale of good vs. evil, and it is generally regarded as one of the
most effective expressions of sexual curiosity and the ultimate loss of
innocence.

I recently wrote an article exploring the evolution of the tale and how its
meaning changed throughout the years - from its supposed origins as an oral
folktale warning girls of the dangers of predators, to Charles Perrault's
literary fairy tale adaptation warning young women against exploring their
sexual desires.

Head over to Folklore Thursday to read the article, and for the chance to
win thyself a copy of my Devil's Advocates book on The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan's Gothic fantasy film based on Angela Carter's feminist reworking of Red Riding Hood). After you’ve read the article, simply subscribe to Folklore Thursday's
lovely (and completely free) …

Today is the last day to enter a competition to win a copy of my Devil's Advocates book on The Company of Wolves. Simply head over to FolkloreThursday.com and subscribe to their lovely (and completely free) newsletter (just underneath my article on the evolution of the tale of Red Riding Hood) for the chance to win a copy (valid August 2017; UK & ROI only).